Insurance agency goes paperless

Phasing out paper is a costly and time-consuming commitment, but one Springfield insurance agency has no regrets about taking the paperless plunge.

Barker Phillips Jackson Inc. enlisted the services of another Springfield-based firm, PaperWise, three years ago when company officials decided a paperless office was the key to enhanced customer service. The agency, which also has offices in West Plains, Rolla and St. Robert, moved its headquarters to 1637 S. Enterprise Ave. from East Sunshine Street in August.

PaperWise is scanning and integrating all of BPJ's documents into the agency's obscure management system, and the electronic records can now be accessed by employees with the click of a button. Having the ability to instantaneously reference client accounts and policies is a big improvement over hunting for manila folders, said Paula Goodin, vice president of commercial, personal, life and health lines at BPJ.

"I hit my hotkeys that PaperWise has scripted and - boom! - it pulls every document that I have attached for that auto policy," she said. "And that is true with every policy and every account."

Goodin said BPJ started the paperless transition with its personal lines and is now deep in the process of converting its commercial lines, which represent 75 percent of the agency's revenues as well as some of its largest accounts. She said the transfer should be complete by Feb. 1.

"We have taken the commercial lines in little baby steps," said Goodin, a self-described "paper lover."

PaperWise offers a free analysis for businesses interested in changing over to a paperless environment, said Sales Manager David Rust. During that discovery phase, he said PaperWise assesses workflow and determines whether a company could run more efficiently with its software in place. PaperWise quantifies a company's potential return on investment by estimating its revenue per employee, added Rust.

"Are the efficiency gains in the software going to justify costs?" he said. "The company (may be) growing at a rate where they would actually have to hire additional administrative staff or they're having service issues due to their administrative process."

PaperWise tailors its solutions to each client's technology to avoid the implementation of foreign systems that might throw employees for a loop, Rust said. PaperWise creates customized demonstrations for its clients and then trains employees through a two-week boot camp followed by on-site instruction, he added.

Goodin said some BPJ employees were uneasy about changing over to the paperless system, but those fears have largely dissipated.

"Some of us - including myself - are still old school, and we have to retrain ourselves," she said. "But it's just so simple. The learning curve is, like, nil."

BPJ also hopes to eventually use PaperWise's WebWise application, which would allow its customers to access their account information online.

Goodin said she's recommending the paperless route to insurance industry peers interested in streamlining customer service and reducing storage space. One word-of-mouth referral already has resulted in a new client for PaperWise in Kansas City, she said.

PaperWise Public Relations Specialist Rachael Mhire said more companies, especially those in the insurance and transportation industries, are inquiring about paperless conversions and off-site storage. For added security, she said, BPJ has backed up its data on SpringNet servers housed at Springfield Underground.

"It's kind of a growing market," Mhire said.

Rust said PaperWise offers software packages that cost as little as $179 a month for a single-user system to several thousand dollars a month for multiple users. More complex systems carry higher costs, he said.